I spent some time in very windy conditions today capturing a few holes on the back nine of the Mountain Dell Lake Course. The Lake Course is one of two courses at Mountain Dell, the other being the Canyon Course. Mountain Dell is a municipal golf course located in Parleys Canyon, midway between Salt Lake City and Park City, Utah.
Mountain Dell Lake Course – click for more photos
I captured the photos with my golf aerial remote controlled hexacopter. It is a rig I built myself for the purpose of capturing stunning golf photos and video. As you can see from the photo above and the other golf aerial photos in the Mountain Dell Lake Course photo gallery, the aerial rig is delivering some fantastic results!
Here’s a video clip from Monday’s golf aerial flight at Hidden Valley Country Club, a few minutes from HOG World Headquarters. This video was shot in some very windy conditions and I’m quite happy with the stability of the copter.
With a 23 month old toddler in the house my best friend is baby wipes. They’re like miracle cloths that clean up milk, food, fingerprints, barf. You know, the crucial stuff.
Golf Wipes by LaGila Sports are the golf equivalent to baby wipes. They’re moist and clean debris, dirt, grass out off of golf club faces and out of the grooves. The product can also be used on golf balls.
These wipes come in the same type of portable package as baby wipes, and dispense one at a time as needed. The package contains 18 wipes and runs about $9.00 with shipping. Assuming one wipe per hole, that’s 50 cents per hole.
Product Features (courtesy of product website)
Each package is re-sealable and contains 18 pre-moistened golf wipes
Pre-moistened and skin safe to clean golf balls and club faces where and when needed…while you are playing
Double sided wipe for greatest effectiveness; textured side for deep cleaning, soft side for surface cleaning
Sandalwood Fragrance
Eliminate dirty and dry towels from the cart and the laundry
Great for players at all levels; Great gifts for all golfers
Christmas stocking stuffers, birthdays, Father’s Day, Mother’s Day and holidays
On the Course
I used the product for a few rounds and it worked fine. In the photo below you can see a before and after example.
Left: notice dirt in grooves – Right: clean!
Honestly though, I saw no difference in results between the wipes and a moist golf towel. I always soak my towel before heading the to the first tee.
That said, golf towels can get pretty dirty and I’m sure they’re a candidate for bacteria where a disposable wipe is thrown away after use.
Conclusion
LaGila Sports Golf Wipes deliver as promised. Clubs are clean and shiny. At an additional cost of 50 cents per wipe, I still would opt to use a towel rather than buy this product. In fact, golf towels can be less than $10 so if one had a $9 “cleaning budget” per round, he/she could just buy a new towel every time.
Related Links
Back on October 13, 2006 I reviewed Velocity Wipes, a similar product which is dispensed out of a canister.
In golf we screw things up by making them too complicated. Such is not the case with the Wilson 8802 Putter, which is in for review here at Hooked On Golf Blog. This is a very simple heel-shafted putter which many remember as the one Arnold Palmer used when he was a Wilson endorsee.
Wilson 8802 Putter
I’ll be doing REAL testing of this putter and posting a review soon. Why did I all-caps the word real? Because my reviews are not flyby style like other golf review sites. I actually take my own photos. put the club in play, and write my findings and impressions. This is unlike other sites who retype press releases and post stock PR photos.
Rant over. Putter testing to begin. Maybe I’ll putt as good as Arnold Palmer with this thing.
The last few months I’ve been happily testing out prescription sunglasses from SportRX in San Diego, California. SportRX makes custom prescription sunglasses out of frames from the top brands like Oakley, adidas, Nike, Bolle, Smith and many others. The pair I’m reviewing today is a set of prescription Oakley Flak Jacket XLJ sunglasses, in jet black.
Prescription
First and foremost I need to see on the golf course. I’m near sighted, so working on the computer or looking at subjects a few feet away are no problem. But when the subjets get beyond 5-10 feet, they become more and more blurry. Seeing a ball finish at 180 yards on a par-3, or trying to track down a long drive of 275 yards with my naked eye is not going to work.
Transitions
Not only are these Oakleys prescription, but SportRX also made the lenses with a transition feature. Transitions lenses darken as the sunlight gets brighter. See the photo above.
Why Sports Sunglasses?
For the last couple of years I’ve been wearing Ray Ban glasses with transitions lenses. They’re not sports glasses, but at least they acted as sunglasses and allowed me to clearly see long distances. The problem with them was the lack of coverage and lack of a snug fit. I could see the edges and sometimes in a big swing the glasses could slip.
By wearing sporty Oakley sunglasses, I get a full wrap in my field of vision with no edges. The glasses stay snug on my head, unlike the Ray Bans.
Sporty sunglasses also look more appropriate on the course. I look like a golfer now, not a librarian.
On The Course
The clarity and definition I see on the golf course with the prescription and the way the glasses process the light is fantastic. I can see all the undulations and details on the course, helping me to play better and make more putts.
Because of the fit and stability of the glasses, I often forget I’m wearing them.
Conclusion
A custom transitions prescription sunglasses setup like this is not cheap. By themselves the Oakleys in this review run about $150. Add the cost of an eye exam and custom transitions prescription lenses and the bill can be up over $500. For hell’s sake don’t leave these in the golf cart!
Optical insurance may cover some costs like the eye exam and part of the prescription.
The cost is offset by the benefit. Full ultraviolet protection, better performance, better vision, safer. There are a ton of reasons to go with prescription sports sunglasses.
I enjoyed working with SportRX. They know their trade well and produce a fantastic product.
HOGWire – Golf Industry News
